This is a forgotten gem of early 18th century theatre. Augustan wits John Gay, Alexander Pope and Doctor John Arbuthnot were at least as concerned with lampooning numerous figures in fashionable London society as with writing a well-crafted romp in their collaborative play, all but unseen since its original 1717 produc-tion. The plot is outrageous: several times Fossill discovers billets doux to his new bride Susannah, several times she executes last-minute stratagems to persuade him of her chastity, and several times her rival suitors Plotwell and Underplot arrive with the intention of...

Pope's life as a writer falls into three periods, answering fairly enough to the three reigns in which he worked. Under Queen Anne he was an original poet, but made little money by his verses; under George I. he was chiefly a translator, and made much money by satisfying the French-classical taste with versions of the "Iliad" and "Odyssey." Under George I. he also edited Shakespeare, but with little profit to himself; for Shakespeare was but a Philistine in the eyes of the French-classical critics. But as the eighteenth century grew slowly to its work, signs of a deepening interest in the...

"Essay on Man" from Alexander Pope. 18th-century English poet (1688-1744).

"The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope - Volume I" from Alexander Pope. 18th-century English poet (1688-1744).

"The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope Volume II" from Alexander Pope. 18th-century English poet (1688-1744).

"Three Hours after Marriage" from Alexander Pope. 18th-century English poet (1688-1744).

Essay on Man is a philosophical poem, written, characteristically, in heroic couplets. Pope intended it as the centerpiece of a proposed system of ethics to be put forth in poetic form. It is an attempt to justify, as Milton had attempted to vindicate, the ways of God to Man, and a warning that man himself is not, as, in his pride, he seems to believe, the center of all things. Though not explicitly Christian, the Essay makes the implicit assumption that man is fallen and unregenerate, and that he must seek his own salvation.

This eminent English poet was born in London, May 21, 1688. His parents were Roman Catholics, and to this faith the poet adhered, thus debarring himself from public office and employment. His father, a linen merchant, having saved a moderate competency, withdrew from business, and settled on a small estate he had purchased in Windsor Forest. He died at Chiswick, in 1717.

Alexander Pope's technical polish and intellectual poise appeal to the subtlest audience. This selection includes The Rape of the Lock, Eloisa to Abelard, and extracts from The Dunciad and the translation of Homer.